MNN - Mother Nature Network

IT'S YARD!"...DUH! MEANING IT WAS NOT IN IT'S RIGHTFUL YARD AFTER ALL!" Second, you obviously you obviously do not know that much about dog breeding. If you did, then you should know that some animals, like humans, are slow to develop the motherly instincts of taking care of their offspring, so it is likely for a first-time animal mother to not know how to take of it's babies properly....especially a young first time mother! USE SOME COMMON-SENSE BEFORE COMMENTING!...If a HUMAN BEING may not know how to curb their desires to run wild instead of staying at their child's side 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week, then why are you claiming an animal instincts cannot fail them too! Common-sense should dictate that if Human's are suppose to be smarter than any other animal on Earth and the Human's instincts are susceptible to mistakes and failures, then so would other animals instincts be susceptible of failure too! To believe otherwise, is to state that Humans compared to all other animals, really are not the superior species on Earth! cascadian12 - You proved you are incapable of using common-sense. Do the responsible thing and learn to be smart by using common-sense yourself BEFORE you put other people down for not being smart. The part of your comment I agreed with is the part about the owners not noticing the dog was not back in the house within at least 15 minutes of being outside. If a dog is trained and cared for properly, then most dogs out of loyalty will want to come back in the house to be within the presence of it's owner or family members within 15-20 minutes. Dogs having a wolf pack mentality usually know that to stray from the pack for a long period of time. They try to adhere to the "safety in numbers" rule. Intelligent dog owners know that a dog will constantly position itself to be in the presence of at least one member of the family. Why did that one family member not notice the dog was not at that person's side like normal? That person should have had the natural instinct and the returned loyalty to the dog to go looking for the dog and alerting others around the person that the dog was missing. The fact that the family failed the dog by not developing a natural mental rhythm for noticing whether the dog is constantly safe and secure around them...I agree with you! The family failed the dog and makes me wonder if the dog owner has any kids and how well do they keep tabs on what their kids are doing...Is everyone safe, secure, and behaving properly? How self-centered is this family that they could not develop the natural instinct to notice that a member of their household is missing? Will they be the next idiots claiming that someone stole their child, because they were not watching their child like they are suppose too do as a parent or guardian! Is this article a tell-tale sign of how irresponsible the adults are in this family? Seriously, how self-centered is a person that they cannot simply and quickly visually scan and notice the activities of the room and home during a commercial or other activities they may be doing? I wish this article would have asked the owners these simple question and published their answers for us to try and understand the issue better!